Rolling-mill plant



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet '1 W GARRETT ROLLING MILL PLA'NT.

Patented Feb. 21', 1893.

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- lfiipigg 4 w M @f g g UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM GARRETT, OF J OLIET, ILLINOIS.-

ROLLING-MILL PLANT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 492,156, dated February21, 1893.

Application filed August 1, 1890. Renewed October 11, 1892- Serial No.448,513- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GARRETT, a citizen of the United States,residing at J oliet, in the county of Will and State of Illinois, haveinvented or discovered certain new and useful ImprovementsinRolling-Mill Plants, of which improvements the following is aspecification.

The invention described herein relates to certain improvements inrolling mill plants, and is applicable to rod mills, and mills employedin manufacturing merchantable forms of iron and steel.

It is the usual practice in rolling mills to break down and then dividean ingot weighing say two thousand five hundred or three thousand fivehundred pounds into blooms weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds,more or less, that size of bloom being as large as is practicable tohandle during subsequent reduction to wire rods or other merchantableforms Without extra cost for labor. These blooms are then charged into asuitable heating furnace and when heated are reduced to the desiredform. As it is practicable to so operate the rolling mill as to reducetwo or three of such blooms a minute the work of charging the bloomsinto the heating furnaces and withdrawing them therefrom with suflicientrapidity to enable the mill to be operated to its full capacity, is verysevere and exhausting. And further, while operating on blooms of thissize, automatic machinery can not be operated with sufficient rapidityto supply the mill when running at its full capacity. The object of thisinvention is to provide suitable mechanism whereby it is possible tocharge larger blooms into the heating furnaces, said blooms beingsubsequently divided up to the desired size, before passing into thereducing rolls, and in that way rendering it possible to charge and drawthe furnaces more slowly, and thereby rendering it practicable to useautomatic machinery in the charging and drawing operations.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,Figure lisa plan view of a rod mill plant embodying my invention, and;Fig. 2, is a similar view of a merchant mill plant constructed inaccordance with my invention.

In the practice of my invention the ingot, weighing two thousand fivehundred or three thousand five hundred pounds, more or'less, is brokendown or reduced in the usual or any suitable manner, until it is asregards its cross sectional dimensions, about four or five inches squaremore or less; it is then divided transversely into blooms weighing aboutthree hundred or four hundred and fifty pounds more or less, dependentupon the size of blooms desired, that is to say, the ingot when reducedas described, is so divided as to form what might be termed double ortriple blooms, i. 6. having double or treble the weight of bloomsheretofore used. These double or triple blooms are then caught in thejaws of the charging apparatus A, and placed in one or the other of theheating furnaces B.

The charging apparatus A is preferably mounted on a car or truck 1 sothat it may be shifted from one furnace to the other, the truck beingmounted on rails 2 arranged along the front of the furnaces, but ifdesired, a charging apparatus may be arranged in front of each furnace.After this double or triple bloom has been properly heated, it iswithdrawn from the furnace by the charging apparatus, which, if mountedin a truck, is shifted along until the bloom can be deposited upon thefeed table 3; but if the charging and drawing apparatus is stationary,the bloom is deposited thereby upon a car 4: mounted on rails arrangedin front of the furnaces and in proximity to the feed table. This car 4can be shifted in any desired manner, as for example, by an endlesschain 5 passing around a driven pulley 6 and a guide pulley 7 arrangedat opposite ends of the travel of the car.

The feed table consists of aseries of driven rollers 8, whereby thedouble or triple bloom is carried along to and through the shears 9,until the front end of the bloom comes in contact with a stop 10. Thisstop is so located with reference to the shears, as to check the bloomwhen so much thereof as will form when out off, a bloom of the usual orany desired dimensions. The shear is then operated so as to cut off theportion of the double or triple bloom projecting through the shears. Thestop is then shifted so as to permit the severed portion being carriedalong by the feed rollers, to the first pass of the train 0, the movableblade of the shear being held in its closed position, so as to preventany forward movement of the other portion of the bloom. As soon as thefirst or severed portion of the bloom has progressed sufficiently farthrough the train 0, the shear blade is raised, thereby permitting therear portion of the double or triple bloom to be carried along to saidtrain 0, or until arrested by the stop 10, which is interposed in itspath if a triple or larger'bloom is being operated on. In the lattercase, the shear is again operated to cut off another portion which isthen carried to the train 0.

It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that, bystarting with a double or triple bloom, the charging and drawingoperations can be carried on more leisurely, without reducing therapidity of operation of the mill, and that the use of machinery foreffecting the charging and drawing operations permits of the handling ofthe larger blooms, and by starting with a double or triple bloom, i. 6.one heavier than those heretofore employed, and then dividing suchdouble or triple bloom after heating, into two or more single blooms,sufficient time is gained to permit of the employment of machinery. Asthe double or triple bloom is quite large, there will be sufiicient heatretained by the last portion thereof to permit of its easy reduction.

This improvement can be employed in the manufacture of wire rods asshown in Fig. 1, in the manufacture of merchant iron, as shown in Fig.2, or in the reduction of iron or steel to any desired product.

\Vhile any desired construction and arrangement of rod mill may beemployed, the form of mill described and shown in the application of\Villiam Swinbank, filed April 23, 1890, Serial No. 349,123, patentedDecember 23, 1890, No. M3504, is preferred. This mill generally stated,consists of a billet train (1, having its rolls arranged in the form ofa continuo us train as described in said application, intermediate trainD, and rod trains E.

In Fig. 2, the invention is shown as applied to a mill employed for theproduction of merchant bars, the roughing train 0 and finishing train E,being constructed and arranged in the usual or any suitable manner, andthe hot table being located in convenient proximity to the finishingtrain. After each section, or, as it has heretofore been termed, singlebloom has been sheared from the double, triple or larger bloom, it iscarried by the continuously operated feed rollers 8 to the first pass ofthe train 0, and then reduced to a wire rod merchant bar, or otherdesired product, in the customary manner.

I claim herein as my invention-- 1. In a rolling mill plant, thecombination of one or more furnaces, a charging and drawing apparatus, areducing train, a feed table for carrying the bloom to the reducingtrain, a shearing mechanism and astop, said shearing mechanism and stopbeing arranged at suitable points along the line of the feed table,substantially as set forth.

2. In a rolling mill plant, the combination of a heating furnace, areducing train, mechanism for transferringa bloom from the heatingfurnace to the reducing train, and shear mechanism to divide said bloomin two or more sections, during its passage from the heating furnace tothe reducing train, subtantially as set forth.

3. In a rolling mill plant, the combination of one or more furnaces, afeed table, a car for transferring the bloom from the furnace to thefeed table, a charging and drawing apparatus for charging the bloomsinto the furnace and placing them on the car, a shearing mechanism and astop arranged along the line of the feed table, and a reducingtrain,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM GARRETT. Witnesses:

DARWIN S. WoLoo'r'r, R. H. WHITTLESEY.

